The Great Expedition Dining Experience at Gingerline: Review

Located in an unassuming warehouse in Dalston, you’d never guess that it held Gingerline’s latest dining experience focused on aeronautical exploration.

Returning after four years, The Grand Expedition: The Incredible Edible Journey is the highly anticipated comeback of Gingerline.

The experience is themed around aeronautical exploration (Image: Emily Davison)

I was invited along with my mother to try out the new experience, as someone who’s always been fascinated with hot air balloons, exploration, and theatre this experience is a wonderful synergy combining immersive theatre, pageantry, and culinary arts to create an experience exploring the world.

We began the experience by walking into the venue located in Dalston’s Film Shed, which revealed a passageway lined with antique looking oddities, suitcases, and other props.

Antique oddities and props help to set the scene (Image: Emily Davison)

Beware the passageway is quite narrow and winding with some steps, so be mindful as you walk through.

We began by receiving a welcome cocktail, with a choice between a classic Negroni or Margarita.

A good selection of drinks were on offer (Image: Emily Davison)

Following that we then arrived at our hot air balloon, which in our case was balloon number 14 in the centre of the room.

When I saw what was to be our dining setting for the night, I let out an audible gasp, as the set is impressive, featuring tables fashioned into hot air balloons, along with large, animated projections of the sky on a huge panoramic surround screen.

The setting is very impressive (Image: Emily Davison)

If you book for a party of under six you can expect to be joined by others at your table who will join you in your “flight”, which makes for a great way to meet new people.

The experience, lasting 100 minutes, features a four-course menu with dishes inspired by Norway, China and India created by Gingerline’s Executive Chef Jenny McNeill.

The experience is a great way to meet new people (Image: Emily Davison)

This will be accompanied by performances from a range of actors and performers who take on several roles throughout the night, from a fleet of Aeronauts who enlist diners to help them ready the fleet or hot air balloons, to a group of dancing citygoers in the bustling city in China during the roaring 20s.

The performers take on a range of roles (Image: Emily Davison)

The entire experience tells the story of an aeronautical mission where a fleet of balloons are sent across the world by the whims of the four winds, who are depicted as brothers in the animation.

The animation style is cartoon-like and whimsical, created by Greenaway & Greenaway, and immerses you into a colourful world as you fly through the skies and land in different countries.

The story takes you on a flight around the world (Image: Emily Davison)

During the night our “adventure” took us from the launchpad at Greenwich, stopping off at several locations from a Norwegian wedding to a jungle in Southern India.

The experience immerses you in a colourful world (Image: Emily Davison)

We had the standard package, which included unlimited soft drinks and a welcome cocktail, but there are options to upgrade to a cocktail or wine paring, as well as the option to order drinks as you go.

The menu began with a warming and rich broth made with sherry, miso and mushroom served with orange, thyme, and celeriac.

We tried a range of dishes from a fish dish inspired by Norwegian wedding crown to Chinese Bao buns finished with satay sauce and crispy onions.

China is represented on the menu by their bao buns (Image: Emily Davison)

This was followed by a curry dish as we touched down in the jungles of India, which comprised of roast beef curry along with coconut rice, banana chips and beetroot pachadi.

Roast Beef Curry welcomes you to India (Image: Emily Davison)

Each dish was created to showcase the different flavours and themes of the performance, and really elevated the experience as we watched performers dart around and interact with the audience.

The final dish was a creative synergy of all the previous countries visited during the night, featuring a chocolate shell, Earl Grey and white chocolate mousse, soy salted caramel, toasted coconut, and sticky gingerbread.

Dessert was a creative synergy from all the countries we had visited (Image: Emily Davisonn)

If you tend to be more introverted, you’ll need to make like Natasha Bedingfield and “release your inhibitions” as actors invite you to take part in the expedition.

The performers invite you to take an active part in the experience (Image: Emily Davison)

The evening was a truly unique experience, from helping the aeronauts set up the balloons to interacting with a puppet monkey in the forests of India, and by the end I did feel as if I’d been on a journey.

You even get to interact with a puppet monkey in an Indian forest (Image: Emily Davison)

The feeling at the end was rather like when you come out of a theatre show, having been transported to another place entirely, only in this one I was also very well fed.

The whole experience is entertaining and fun (Image: Emily Davison)

The evening was entertaining, fun, and truly an immersive experience from start to finish, and I’d say it’s a Bucket List experience for anyone who loves theatre and food.